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1992 Yemen hotel bombings
On December 29, 1992, a terrorist attempt to kill United States Marines failed. Al-Qaeda believed that the United States Marine Corps would be staying at the Gold Mohur Hotel in Aden, Yemen while on their way to Somalia to participate in Operation Restore Hope. It is considered to be the first attack on the United States by al-Qaeda (see Timeline of al-Qaeda attacks), though the objective was unsuccessful. The troops had already left before the bomb was detonated, but an Australian tourist and a hotel employee were killed and four Australian tourists were injured. A second bomb detonated prematurely at the Aden Mövenpick Hotel, where other United States Marines had also been staying, and three people were injured, none of which were Americans.Edward F. Mickolus and Susan L. Simmons, Terrorism, 1992-1995: a chronology of events and a selectively annotated bibliography (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1997), 250. At the moment, the bombings did not show up on the United States’ radar because no Americans had died. In 2008, Osama bin Laden would take credit for the bombings, claiming: "The United States wanted to set up a military base for US soldiers in Yemen, so that it could send fresh troops to Somalia… The Arab mujaheddin related to the Afghan jihad carried out two bomb explosions in Yemen to warn the United States, causing damage to some Americans staying in those hotels. The United States received our warning and gave up the idea of setting up its military bases in Yemen. This was the first al-Qaeda victory scored against the Crusaders." Michael Scheuer, Through Our Enemies' Eyes: Osama bin Laden, Radical Islam, and the Future of America, Revised Edition (Dulles, VA: Potomac Books, 2006), 147. Of course, this was not entirely true since no Americans were injured or killed, nor did the United States recognize this action as a warning. At the time, “The troops went on to Somalia as scheduled, but the triumphant leaders of al-Qaeda told themselves that they had frightened the Americans away and scored an easy victory.”Lawrence Wright, The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 (New York: Vintage Books, 2007), 198. On this occasion, the United States did not respond to the attack made by the terrorists. US Response In April 1993, intelligence believed that bin Laden had a role in the attacks. However, evidence was too little to convict him.Peter Bergen, Holy War, Inc. (New York: Free Press, 2001), 176. The response by the US was non-existent since it wasn't until years later that the US was sure about who was behind the attacks. Immediately after the bombings, the US announced the withdrawal of troops from Yemen, the place it was using to support operations in Somalia.ibid. Context of the Attack Not only was this the first attack intended to be against the United States, but it was part of a larger picture. At the time, the United States had been intervening in Somalia in an effort to stabilize the country and get aid to those who were in need during a military campaign known as Operation Restore Hope. Earlier in 1992, al-Qaeda allegedly was training Somali militants to fight against US forces. Links have been made between this training and the devastation of the Battle of Mogadishu in 1993, which resulted in 18 deaths and 80 wounded US troops. In March 1997, bin Laden said, "With Allah’s grace, Muslims over there cooperated with some Arab mujaheddin who were in Afghanistan… against the American occupation troops and killed large numbers of them," in an interview on CNN.Phil Hirschkorn, "Scant Evidence Shown to Link bin Laden to GI Deaths in Somalia," CNN, 20 April 2001. References Category:Islamic terrorism